Indiana’s Analytics Strategy: Unlocking Data to Unlock Solutions

Getting data out of government and into the hands of people who can use it is central to Darshan Shah’s IT strategy.

As Indiana’s chief data officer, Shah is new to the public sector. Prior to joining the state’s Management Performance Hub this past March, he worked in a number of private-sector positions, most recently with a health-care startup, which he says is an apt comparison to what he’s doing in government.

Shah said one of the reasons he came to the state was to take the feeling of improving citizen well-being he’d had in health care and expand it to all of Indiana. “Being able to impact 6 million plus citizens across the state across every sector … we get to be the enablers and supporters of the great work those agencies are doing.”

Government Technology editor Noelle Knell has more than 15 years of writing and editing experience, covering public projects, transportation, business and technology. A California native, she has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history. She can be reached via email and on Twitter.

Lauren Harrison is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 10 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.